Milk Like Mine

Community Birthing and Breastfeeding Services

Milk Like Mine Community Birthing and Breastfeeding Services provides free doula and lactation services to those in need across Calhoun County, Mich. Some cities in the region lack access to quality, if any, medical services like hospitals, birth centers or doula support. Milk Like Mine fills this gap by offering no-cost resources, home visits and transportation to appointments. This Black-led, equity-focused nonprofit organization serves as a bridge between the community and health care providers, to reduce negative birthing outcomes and make sure that all families are empowered in their birthing experience.

According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, between 2015 and 2019, Black mothers in the Southwest Michigan Region that includes Calhoun County experienced 1.6 times higher maternal mortality than their white counterparts. To improve infant and maternal mortality, Milk Like Mine delivers culturally relevant birthing support, addressing the need for community-rooted, skilled doula care from providers that reflect and represent the families they serve. What’s more, it’s the only community-based nonprofit organization offering full birthing care at no cost in the area.

To help more Black moms have a healthy, positive birth experience relies on industry change. Milk Like Mine has been able to successfully update hospital policies that affect local birthing providers, increase awareness and interest from pregnant women in doula services, and growing the local doula workforce.

Giving [birthing parents] the education and the power to feel familiar with what's happening to their body has proven to be wildly successful. Our success is built on education, empathy training and a willingness to collaborate inside and outside the hospital.

– Founder and Executive Director Rickeshia Williams

Milk Like Mine Fast Facts

Founding members of the MI Milk Collective, a statewide group of Black-led organizations working to amplify, center and celebrate breastfeeding.
Established Birthing Bellies Like Mine Doula Services and the Community Birthing and Breastfeeding Services Center in 2020
Supported the healthy birth of 80 babies in 2023, nearly 83% from families of color that lacked access to quality health care.
Serves roughly 150 local community members with childbirth education, doula support and lactation assistance each year.